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Congress resumes work today, and NAFCU is ready for action as the House prepares to take up the Financial CHOICE Act. Meanwhile, NAFCU witness Steve Grooms, president and CEO of 1st Liberty Federal Credit Union, is preparing to advocate regulatory relief during a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday.

NAFCU lobbyists will be on the Hill as work commences on CHOICE, which has several NAFCU-sought measures that would provide regulatory relief to the nation's credit unions. A review of appropriate levels of risk-based capital is called for in the bill, along with a reining in of CFPB's rules and a requirement that regulators improve cost-benefit analyses and better tailor regulations to the size of regulated institutions.

The association's advocacy team will also be present during Thursday's hearing, "Fostering Economic Growth: The Role of Financial Institutions in Local Communities." Grooms, whose credit union is headquartered in Great Falls, Mont., is one of three credit union industry representatives on the witness list, which also includes banking trades.

Thursday's hearing is the beginning of a series following on the Senate committee's review of ways regulatory relief could benefit economic growth. NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger touted the economic benefits of relief for credit unions in aletterthis spring to Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Also ahead is a NAFCU webcast, slated Wednesday, on the impact of the Fair Credit Reporting Act on credit union marketing and lending operations. Titled "Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Fundamentals and Current Trends," the webcast will review key FCRA topics and how to design operations that avoid legal risk.

Next week brings NAFCU's 50th Annual Conference & Solutions Expoin Honolulu. The conference runs June 13-16, and there's still time to register.